Maurizio Collu from Cranfield University, UK, and Michael Borg from Technical University of Denmark have published a paper on horizontal and vertical axis offshore wind turbines, advocating the latter as more cost effective option.
The authors state that it is time to look at alternatives in wind turbine design, considering that more and more offshore wind projects are being built in deeper waters.
The study initiates comparison between horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) based on prime principles, focusing on the turbine aerodynamic forces and their impact on the floating wind turbine static and dynamic responses.
VAWTs generate substantially different aerodynamic forces on the support structure, in particular, a potentially lower inclining moment and a substantially higher torque than HAWTs, the paper abstract reads.
The paper titled “A comparison between the dynamics of horizontal and vertical axis offshore floating wind turbines” was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on January 12, 2015.
Offshore WIND Staff